Where some fine novelists may content themselves with revisiting the same settings, characters, and plots, Colson Whitehead challenges himself and his readers with every novel. <i>Harlem Shuffle</i>, Colson’s most recent novel, explores the turbulent Harlem of the late 1950s and early 1960s, bookended by the riots of 1943 and 1964. <i>Harlem Shuffle</i> is a noir crime caper sandwiching Colson’s commentary about the varied cultures and society of mid-century Harlem, increasingly stressed by official corruption and the burgeoning drug trade. For lovers of New York and Harlem’s rich history, Colson reminds us of famous and not-so-famous landmarks, some remaining, some transformed, and some disappeared: Mount Morris Park, Hotel Dumas, Hotel Theresa, Strivers’ Row, the old diamond district on Canal Street, among others. Ray Carney, <i>Harlem Shuffle</i>’s nuanced protagonist, embodies the ambiguities and discordances of the era. <i>Harlem Shuffle</i> is rich in atmospherics, but for this reader the atmospherics sometimes enhanced and sometimes detracted from the plot and the characters, leaving me to wonder whether the crime caper was sandwiching the atmospherics or whether the atmospherics were sandwiching the crime caper.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Doubleday for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a review.

Once again, Colson Whitehead proves that he can conquer any genre. With Harlem Shuffle, he takes on the caper/crime novel schema and employs his amazing talent to elevate it from its typical genre fiction roots to true literary fiction. This book is multifaceted, incorporating incisive social commentary and true historical events. It’s enveloping and time-spanning plot compels readers to face and acknowledge some uncomfortable truths. This time, Whitehea’s main character is Ray Carney, an ambitious business owner in 1950s Harlem. He is a dedicated family man who strives to achieve the best he can within the limits placed on him. Ray also happens to be a criminal who uses his furniture store as a front for dealing in stolen items. Due to his seedy upbringing and criminal experiences from his past, Ray has inside knowledge of Harlem’s underbelly. This double identity helps support his family, although they know nothing about it. Ray is forced to lean more heavily on his crooked side in order to protect his feckless cousin Freddy. When Freddie pulls off an especially foolhardy heist, he and Ray become targets for some influential people of the Park Avenue crowd. This time, he needs to tightrope between his two identities in order protect all that he has built. As Ray’s interior conflict rages, the escalating riots and looting in the background mirror his turmoil. A flawed but sympathetic character, Ray’s flexible moral compass is a consequence of the surrounding systemic racism. Whitehead points out how the resulting dichotomies reflect a lack of choice—a reality that forces some to bend the law in order to thrive. Ray becomes a crook because society does not permit him to achieve his desires and goals without doing so. Written with great wit and style, Harlem Shuffle is a perfectly paced and engrossing novel. It underscores Whitehead’s prodigious talent for blending strong social commentary with pure entertainment.

Thanks to the author, Doubleday and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
Doubleday
I enjoyed this book immensely. It was extremely evocative of the time and place. It seemed to me to bring Harlem of the mid 20th century to life and I felt I could be a fly on the wall. Okay, so Carney was a little bit, maybe more than a little bit, bent but he tried so hard and loved his family so much, cared for his employees and he was just kind of a lovable guy.
And another plus, it hardly made me cry at all, which I cannot say for some of his previous books. It kind of made me think of the Leonid McGill series by Walter Mosley. In fact, I wish there would be a sequel to this book.
Four resounding loved it stars.

REVIEW: ⭐⭐⭐
I was so interested to read Colson Whitehead's newest novel for a couple of reasons. First, I loved the Underground Railroad and have The Nickel Boys on my shelf and secondly, because I like to immerse myself in a world that is different than mine. The only experience I have had in Harlem is running through it in the NY Marathon. I feel like each time I read a novel about things I have little knowledge, I can only grow and gain perspective. I feel like this book gave me new understanding of the people of Harlem in the 60s. That being said, I struggled through this book. I listened and had the digital copy in front of me, but could not get into it...there was something missing. I do appreciate Whitehead's beautiful words and descriptions...I truly felt Harlem, just felt like the story moved around too much and didn't grip me. I really wanted this to be a 5 star read because I am a fan. I just wanted to be grabbed like I was in Underground Railroad...and I wasn't.

I practically tore through this book. The writing, the story, the interactions of the characters, the descriptions it was raw, and thoughtful and beautiful. It seems simple at times but is complex at the same time. I really enjoy the writing and the story and sat there thinking "if something happens to Carney I will lose it!"

I own The Nickel Boys but haven't read it yet, and that is going to have to be rectified soon after reading this.

The last couple of years, Fall has been a particularly busy reading season for me due to the fact that a lot of my favorite authors (or famed authors whose works I’ve been wanting to read but hadn’t gotten around to yet) release new books around this time and I end up scrambling in a harried attempt to get to each and every single one of those books — a feat that is 10 times more difficult with a full-time job and family obligations that oftentimes leave me with little time for myself. Yes, I know this is a self-inflicted bookworm problem (sorry / not sorry?) and I am by no means trying to elicit sympathy, it’s just that when I opened up my book tracking app today and saw that I this was only the fourth book I’ve finished out of a (wildly unrealistic) goal of 13 for this month (yes, you read that right — 13 books for the month of September), I felt the need to vent, if merely to just get it off my chest. Whew! Ok, back to the matter at hand…

The aforementioned 4th book (out of 13) that I just finished is Colson Whitehead’s newest release Harlem Shuffle. Whitehead is one of those famous authors whose works I’ve had on my TBR like forever, but for some reason or another, I haven’t been able to get around to reading those works. So when I was offered an ARC of Whitehead’s latest work, I of course jumped at the opportunity (even knowing his newest book would be markedly different from his previous ones). Going into this, I was excited to finally get the chance to “see what the hype was about” when it comes to this award-winning author. With that said though, while I did enjoy this one quite a bit and found it to be an excellent read in many aspects — the vivid, lyrical writing, the realistic and fleshed out characters, the wonderfully rendered atmosphere of 1950s / 1960s Harlem, witty and fun dialogue, the timeliness of the social commentary, etc. — what made this a 4 star read instead of 5 star is the fact that I wasn’t able to engage with the story as much as I thought I would, despite my best efforts. This is more a reflection of my own tastes rather than any issue with the book itself — namely that I’m not much of a reader of heist and gangster stories and while this wasn’t the entire focus of the story, I found it more difficult to connect with the story and therefore it was a much slower read for me. Regardless though, this was still a worthwhile read and one that I learned a lot from, especially with the historical fiction aspect and the masterful, atmospheric way that Whitehead captured the various nuances of Harlem and New York during that particular time period.

Though I wasn’t much engaged with the story, I did like most of the characters — even the main character Ray Carney with his sardonic wit as he struggles to keep the two sides of his life separate from each other. Overall, this was a solid 4 star read, a book that I highly recommend! I read an interview with the author last week where he mentioned that he is working on a sequel to this book that would follow Ray Carney into the 1970s era, which I definitely look forward to reading. In the meantime, I need to get with the program and go pickup Underground Railroad as well as The Nickel Boys and other books from Whitehead’s backlist. So many books, so little time!!

Received ARC from DoubleDay Books via NetGalley.

The tension between success, extended family commitments and community expectations is masterfully depicted in this novel about a furniture retailer and his side hustle.as a fence for stolen goods.

This is my first Colson Whitehead book, so I had pretty high expectations. The way the action is broken up is confusing; I found it hard to follow the plot amidst the various side anecdotes and flashbacks. Overall, though, I found it pulpy and fairly entertaining with a compelling cast of characters--it's also a great reminder of how enticing the promise of cash can be, even when it's only possible to obtain it via a convoluted heist.

⭐️⭐️💫

🛋 It’s Harlem in the 60s and Ray and his family are just trying to get by when his cousin continues to pull him into crime.

👍🏼The setting of this story was great and I enjoyed the characters. The writing was also very well done.

👎🏼Despite the beautiful writing, great setting and characters this story never took off for me. It was very slow and I kept waiting for this dramatic crime caper a la oceans 11 to happen and it never did.

❎I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t deliver to my expectations based on his previous books and the book description. The pacing seemed way too slow and it didn’t feel like anything really happened. If you like more expository writing you may enjoy this book because the setting descriptions really are great.

I have read Nickel Boys and Underground Railroad and this latest by Colson Whitehead did not disappoint. He is an amazing writer. I can’t wait for his next book. Highly recommended!

The writing is excellent and the descriptions of Harlem are vivid. There are so many characters, though, that it was hard to keep everyone straight. Or care. I couldn't relate to any of the characters or their experiences - it was all light-years away from anything I've ever experienced. I did have some sympathy for Ray who seemed to really want to go straight and have a normal family life - but his past and circumstances kept tugging him in another direction.

This book is described as crime fiction, but the crime is more contextual than a driver of the plot. Don’t expect a thriller. It’s about a man straddling two sides of business, a respected furniture store with some illegal activities mixed in, while trying to support his family in 1950-60s Harlem.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I didn’t find the plot as riveting as expected without the emotional punch. Some of the backstories were a touch drawn out and repetitive.

However, Harlem Shuffle absolutely holds true to Whitehead’s great writing style. He creates such interesting characters and I was particularly invested in the family drama layer to the story.

There’s SO much more to Harlem Shuffle than crime. If you want traditional crime fiction with a clear mystery to solve and a lot of action, this isn’t it. If you want an atmospheric story about loyalty, morality, and corruption, then you’ll probably love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday for the advanced copy! Colson Whitehead does it again! Harlem Shuffle read with a vibrant energy of the city and its people. This novel is set in 1960s New York at the height of the civil rights movement. It deals with under the table hustling, crooks and a corrupt society as Ray tries to keep his family afloat with his furniture business and running his cousin's loot through his own store. Ray has a constant internal struggle as he walks the line of helping the law and breaking the law, and it catches up to him.

Thank you for the opportunity to review “Harlem Shuffle,” the latest offering by Colson Whitehead. I am not at all surprised to have found this book engaging, well written, and compelling. Definitely in my top 10 for 2021.

I DNF'd at 40%. To me it is more of a collection of stories, not one cohesive story. Too many characters and back stories. I finally got to know the characters in part 1 and then part 2 has a whole new cast and have to get to know them again. Just not my style of writing.

Another winner from Colson Whitehead. His love letter to Harlem and heists is a great adventure. He transports you back to the height of Harlem’s golden years. Ray Carney is a complex man and likes to think of himself as a family man. It is his family that gets him wrapped into a heist. Being a middle man isn’t so easy.

I would love to see this as a movie. It would be brilliant.

I made it 30% in and was trying to remain intrigued. Harlem Shuffle is giving me a bit of Deacon King Kong vibes. Same slow pace, community feeling, and cast of characters. I expected Whitehead’s signature serious and exacting writing and this is perhaps not that. Unfortunately I’m slogging through it and think it’s not for me right now. I’m just disinterested in the characters and feel disconnected.

Harlem Shuffle is a novel of culture, racism, stereotyping, politics, privilege, exploitation and so much more . Set in 1961 and 1964 Harlem, New York this novel is the story of Carney and his struggles to come up in his life for himself and his growing family despite his crooked background. This he tries to achieve by both legal and illegal means. He gets involved in one such scheme which goes awry and the whole novel revolves around that story and the characters involved.
Harlem Shuffle is a slow burner crime novel. Be prepared though for lot of characters and their back stories. A little tough to keep all the characters in your head and read their present. Its completely a novel out of my comfort zone and I did enjoy it. Harlem and the New York of those times completely comes alive in this novel.

I really wanted to love this book. I mean, it’s Colson Whitehead! The writing was spectacular, as are all his books. However, I could not connect with the story. I didn’t like any of the characters and I just didn’t have any interest in the story he was telling.

Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book. It’s just not a book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So I had never actually heard of Colson Whitehead prior to starting this book. Full disclosure, I did not finish. I just could not get engaged with the story. However, Whitehead's writing is descriptive, colorful, and imaginative. I could picture each scene very well based on the writing.